Measurement and control of interface strength of RF magnetron-sputtered Ca-PO coating on Ti-6Al-4V substrates using a laser spallation technique

Abstract

In previous studies, an RF magnetron sputter technique was developed for the production of thin calcium phosphate coating. Several deposition parameters were found to influence the growth rate and the stoichiometry of the coatings. For instance, deposition with additional oxygen pressure decreased the Ca to P ratio of the coatings to 1.67. For application of these coatings on actual Ti implants, it is important to know their adhesive tensile strength with the implant surface and how it varies with the deposition parameters. Motivated by these goals, the aim of this study was to measure the adhesive tensile strength of these coatings with Ti substrates and to study its variation with the deposition parameters. Since most mechanical characterization methods are incapable of providing a direct measure of the interface's fundamental strength, a novel laser spallation experiment was used to accomplish this task. In this experiment, a compressive stress pulse is generated on the back side of a substrate by impinging a 3-ns long Nd:YAG laser pulse. The stress pulse propagates through the substrate and is reflected into a tensile stress wave from the free surface of the coating deposited on its front surface. The returning tensile pulse pries off the coating if its amplitude is high enough. The peak interface tensile stress is computed by using the optically recorded free surface displacement of the coating. Because interface decohesion is accomplished at a strain rate of almost 10(7) s-1, all inelastic processes essentially are suppressed and the measured value essentially is the intrinsic tensile strength of the interface. Tensile strength values in the range of 500-900 MPa were recorded for the interfaces between sputter-deposited calcium-phosphate coatings and Ti substrates. To confirm the locus of failure, the spalled spots were examined using SEM and EDS. The variation in the measured values was related to the changes in the deposition conditions.